When I made mitsubifor Eilene, I had leftover sushi rice. While onigiri are usually made with plain, unseasoned rice, I decided to turn the remaining rice into small rice balls. Onigiri usually have some kind of filling, with what I had on hand I chose to use Ebi Fume Furikake.

Karl’s Furikake Onigiri

The last time I made onigiri, I used a technique of forming the rice in a cup. This method produced very large rice balls. I had only a little sushi rice left, so I wanted a technique to make much smaller rice balls. My solution was to eliminate the cup and to simply spread the rice into a flat disk. This approach produced golf ball sized onigiri .

After Dinner Note: I had added the furikake dry to my rice balls. Eilene did not think highly of them having a dry center. To solve this problem, I added some mirin, to moisten the spices, to the recipe.

Karl’s Furikake Onigiri

Ingredients

Directions

1. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface and spread ¼ cup of the rice into a 3 inch disk.

2. Put a ½ teaspoon of the furikake in the center of the circle.

3. Moisten the dry seasoning with ¼ teaspoon of mirin.

4. Gather up the edges of the plastic wrap and bring the edges of the rice over the filling.

5. Twist the edges of the wrap together to form the rice into a sealed ball.

Tip: You want to twist it tightly, but not so much that the rice bursts through the plastic.

6. Place the onigiri on a plate with the twisted plastic facing down.

7. Repeat the process with more plastic wrap until you run out of poke or rice.

8. Set the onigiri aside for 30 minutes to firm up.

Tip: You generally do not want to refrigerate sushi or onigiri, as that will make the rice hard. However, if you have raw fish and it is going to be more than an hour before it is consumed, you can get away with it for 30 minutes.

9. Remove the onigiri from the plastic and role them in the black sesame seeds.

Tip: Put the sesame seeds on a small plate.

Note: As well as adding visual interest, the sesame seeds keep your hands away from the sticky rice.